The Miyamoto
"True Servants Til The End" Miyamoto family motto Miyamoto No Eikizo was the most prominent military leader of the Tarizoku tribe at the time of the Mikado’s Conquest, a tactical genius that mastered both the field of battle and the subtler art of diplomacy. While the unified Tarizoku and Ganizoku tribes fell quickly to the Mikado’s forces, most resistance they had put up was made by Eikizo and his men, along with the clever surrender negotiation made by the various tribes being managed by the Miyamoto behind closed doors. After the completed surrender of the tribes, Miyamoto came to the Mikado to swear allegiance to him, which the Mikado gladly accepted, even though it reduced the prestige of the great general by a fair margin, alienating him from other military leaders of the unified tribes. Eikizo was instrumental in the shaping of the Imperial doctrine in the beginning of the Empire and the settling of the samurai caste as the second most important political group in the land. While they were to be servants to the Sons of Heaven, they would remain free on most ends and serve as the representatives of the central power in most cases. Many would think the entire empire belongs to the Sons of Heaven, but in the end, it is the samurai who manage most of the territories and maintain order in the land, all thanks to Miyamoto No Eikizo. Through the years, the Miyamoto family remained extremely influential, often referred as the first amongst the non-Sons of Heaven families. During the troubles of the 7th century, the Taika, Sakurazuka and Miyamoto family were embroiled in a bitter blood feud which almost degenerated in a global samurai civil war, if not for the intervention of the Hayabusa and Imperial family, but the three great samurai families of the Endless Shore had shown, at that time, that they were more than capable of playing in their superior’s court in regards to warfare if need be. This led the Mikado to create the title of Shogun, which was granted, at first, to Sakurazuka No Heiichi, who had been the most “level-headed” leader of the three families, which was accepted by the other two families. The three families quickly rotated in this office, and as the power of the office grew over the year with the withdrawal of the Imperial family, it became evident that the Miyamoto were the favourite whenever the election of a new Sei-I Taishogun came up. After the conquest of the Emerald Isle, all the new Shoguns were members of the Miyamoto family, even though the Taika and Sakurazuka were always allowed to present a candidate to the role “for the sake of appearance”. The Miyamoto family The Miyamoto being one of the three largest samurai families, their acts often define “what is acceptable” in regards to how samurai are to act. Almost all of the sons and daughters of the Miyamoto enter service in the military as officers due to their ability to bribe the Imperial Legion for those roles or because their skills do tend to be better than most due to the ability of their parents to pay better sensei and enter their children in better dojos. Those who would prefer “comfier” assignments are usually given the best teachers to assist them in joining the bureaucracy. Spiritual career are rarely encouraged by the heads of the Miyamoto families, as they do not see themselves as very religious people from the get go, other than the regular trips to shrines of the Sun, Moon and other major spirits. Having copied the Hayabusa a lot in the way the family is handled, the Miyamoto have a “main branch” which usually covets the title of Shogun and multiple “sub-branches”, which serve as recruiting ground or potential marriage partners if need be. Most see themselves as the epitome of samurai life, hoping everyone would copy them before anything, but they in turn copy the more powerful Sons of Heaven families in how they dress, behave and conduct business. Lordship and territory The Miyamoto are officially vassals of the Imperial Family directly, and control a lot of territory directly south of the Capital, but quite a bit of that territory is under shared control with the Hayabusa family of Sons of Heaven, meaning that taxes are either collected directly by the Emperor or by his representatives in some regions, which means drastic difference in territorial taxation depending on the status of the Imperial Crown or the Hayabusa family. The principal economic activities in these lands are either fishing or transformation of sea food and rice farming in the lower highlands. Local ports are also used as staging points and warehouse for trade with the Emerald Isle and the southern lands, before shipping up to the Capital and Yunjin lands. As one of the more powerful Daimyo, the Miyamoto has both a regular home guard and a decently sized standing army, even though officially those troops belong either to the Mikado’s home guard or the Hayabusa’s army. Those troops are generally arranged in the traditional Tarigani fashion, with horse archer elite samurai being the best armed and armored troops in the field being supplemented by large groups of spear-wielding or naginata-wielding samurai infantry. While the Miyamoto are not allowed to raise Ashigaru troops, they often employ the Imperial edicts to buff up their army when need be with peasant levy, a practice used by powerful daimyo everywhere. This matters little, in the end, as the Miyamoto family have been in control of the Imperial Legions for an extended period of time, giving them essentially the largest military force in the Empire to command, as long as it is in accordance with the will of the Mikado. Rivals and enemies The Miyamoto have more enemies than friends, especially after the long period of constant control of the Bakufu. Their traditional rivals, the Taika and Sakurazuka only want to see them lose their hold on the title of Shogun and constantly try to trip them politically and finance different rebellions and sabotage the Imperial legion constantly to make sure THEY are the one selected next for the role. Lots of other daimyo are envious of the position of the Miyamoto and threaten them politically, but military threats are very limited. Amongst the Sons of Heaven, the Miyamoto also have few friends, but none of the great families would actively call them “enemies”, both because the Miyamoto do hold quite a bit of military power and because they do not view them as a real threat to their power. Important members of the family #Early 21st century *Hayabusa Koichi, retired head of the family. *Hayabusa Satochi, head of the family. *Hayabusa Daigo, elder son, friend of the Mikado's heir *Hayabusa Seichi, youngest son *Hayabusa Keiko, daughter *Takatori Hokuro, family intendant. Category:Great Families Category:Tarigani Category:Imperial Category:Shogun